Snapshot of a Marriage | Greg & DeAnne, Married 18 Years

With all of our focus on how to make your wedding special, we thought it was important to highlight some ways to make your marriage awesome, too. Introducing “Snapshot of a Marriage,” a series from contributor Emily Westbrooks, who interviews couples on some of their secrets for a strong and successful marriage.

When DeAnne left the Georgetown bar where she first met Greg, she remembers telling a friend that she had just met the man she would marry. Little did DeAnne know, Greg was simultaneously telling a friend the very same thing!

After eighteen years of marriage, Greg and DeAnne are still on the same page and have learned a few lessons along the way.

When the couple was first married, DeAnne says she found it difficult to understand why Greg chose to work so much. “I realized pretty quickly that a man shows his deepest love through creating a life and making things stable for his family. It was difficult for me in the beginning to accept how much my husband worked but I soon realized that it was all for us and our family. I’m so grateful for how hard he worked in those early years because now he has so much more flexibility.”

Through the loss of DeAnne’s parents, the couple realized how much they both rely and depend on each other. When her parents passed away, DeAnne explains, “Greg just understood me and quietly stayed by my side and let me grieve. Through this process I learned that marriage is so much more than romance; it’s about having someone to hold you up when life knocks you down and you can’t do it for yourself.”

Greg and DeAnne leaned on one another through the adoption of their two children as well. “It is tremendously comforting knowing there is one person that you can share all of your excitement, fear, and vulnerability with and who will be by your side no matter how challenging the circumstances,” says Greg. DeAnne agrees, “In the end, the family we have created is so special and irreplaceable. This is something that we undertook as a team and I can’t imaging having gone through that process with anyone else. We learned that there is more than one way to make a family and the only necessary ingredient is love.”

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SNAPSHOT SUBMISSIONS Do you know a married couple whose relationship you admire? Or maybe you're married and want to share your words of wisdom! We're now accepting submissions from couples who have been married for ten years or longer. Email Emily at emily@fromchinavillage.com with your first names, how long you've been married, and a few sentences about why you'd like to be interviewed for our Snapshot of a Marriage series.

9 comments

I had to double and triple check how long they’ve been married because there’s no way!

Thank you Snippet & Ink for this series, I’m getting married in May and we’re writing our own vows. I’ve been bookmarking a few of these outstanding posts to pull from for inspiration and this one takes the cake. Greg and DeAnne – congratulations on your 18 years and thank you for your life lessons, I’ll be incorporating some of your words into my vows!